{"id":12498,"date":"2015-10-24T02:47:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T06:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12498"},"modified":"2016-09-23T01:21:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T05:21:48","slug":"the-demented-the-baby-comes-to-torontos-storefront-theatre-review-podcast-with-director-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12498","title":{"rendered":"The demented “The Baby ” comes to Toronto’s Storefront Theatre: Review + Podcast with Director & Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baby1973_poster_m\"<\/a>The film version of Abe Polsky\u2019s script The Baby <\/strong>(1973) is truly an unforgettable experience, partly because it\u2019s such a strange mix of drama, black comedy, and the undeniable weirdness of a man-infant living in a crib.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to figure out exactly what the filmmakers were going for until the final shot, which makes it quite clear \u2013 much like Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Eyes Wide Shut<\/strong> (1999) \u2013 that The Baby<\/strong> is a very, very<\/em> black comedy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps the grey matter within the film\u2019s first half and midsection, plus the atrocious hairstyles and noxious clothes, which make it so alluring, but the script also seems to challenge the viewer into figuring out exactly what kind of moral tale Polsky the writer and director Ted Post were attempting to create.<\/p>\n

For those who saw it in bits & pieces \u00a0in their youth or managed to watch the complete film on TV or home video, it\u2019s very much a work of cinema bizarre, and that everlasting memory undoubtedly tickled writer-director Dan Spurgeon into transposing Polsky\u2019s script to the live stage.<\/p>\n

The Baby <\/strong>shares more than a few core elements that ground a well-structured play: strong \/ vivid characters, solid dialogue, and a few potent dramatic peaks which, when transposed from 1973 to 2013 (the year Spurgeon\u2019s play debuted in Los Angeles), give the story plenty of dynamics.<\/p>\n

Some of those dynamics allow for some creative license in crafting a look, stylized dialogue and trash talk, plus bawdy physical performances and more than a few scenes that push the play into a special realm of high camp, but Spurgeon and his excellent cast never lose sight of the story nor the core of their characters.<\/p>\n

There’s Mama (the superb Frank Blocker, reprising his role of the formidable matriarch from the original L.A. production), who loves her son in spite of regarding him as the one adult male she can completely control and render fully dependent.<\/p>\n

As Baby (the son has no formal name), Jeff Dingle is the story\u2019s anchor, the innocent mind corrupted by every adult in his life, and a malleable human being prized by Mama, and her looming rival – fresh-faced social worker Ann Gentry (Jeanie Calleja).<\/p>\n

Ann\u2019s job is to ensure Baby\u2019s being well cared-for, although she too begins to reveal her designs for the tormented son \u2013 actions that eventually fracture the already messed up family unit and show Ann is hiding a very dark secret.<\/p>\n

One could find parallels to the kind of defensive, trash families typical of John Waters; Spurgeon\u2019s own brand of camp is just as playful, but he draws from a different brand of visual elements, of music (the pre-show tracks are truly precious), and performance styles.<\/p>\n

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\"DSC_6263<\/a>

Photo of “The Baby” stage cast (L to R: Alicia Richardson, Jeff Dingle, Frank Blocker, Jeanie Calleja, and Claire Burns) by John Gundy.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ann is earnest and wants to please, while Mama bellows and manages her daughters like a ringleader with a drama queen\u2019s ego. Daughters Alba (Alicia Richardson) and Germaine (Claire Burns) are grotesquely oversexed, while Baby \u00a0is the somewhat innocent, wordless infant.<\/p>\n

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\"Claire-Burns-Jeanie-Calleja-Paul-Rivers\"<\/a>

Photo of “The Baby” stage cast (L to R: Claire Burns, Jeanie Calleja, and Paul Rivers) by John Gundy.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ann\u2019s grave \/ histrionic supervisor (Paul Rivers) has apparently been dropped into the play from an Ed Wood sex ed drama, and Ann\u2019s mother (Candi Zell) talks in a sing-song voice that suggests brain damage from ongoing solvent abuse, or unfortunate stupidity.<\/p>\n

Spurgeon\u2019s stage adaptation is rather brilliant in distilling Polsky\u2019s script into a substantive play with many scene changes that add to the story\u2019s momentum. The Baby<\/strong> is briskly paced yet never drifts from Polsky\u2019s intricate plot, retaining the essence of the original characters while giving the superb actors more than enough wiggle room to add their own campy spin cycles.<\/p>\n

Fans of the film will be delighted that the weirdest scenes are still present: the babysitter encounter (Olivia Marshman) ranks as the film\u2019s most demented, and Alba\u2019s \u2018punishment\u2019 of Baby is still unnerving. The language is raw, the emotions range from earnest to deranged, and the simple set design manages to preserve the continuity of the scenes which were so expertly intercut in the feature film.<\/p>\n

Highly recommended for fans of the film and connoisseurs of deranged, seventies wrongness, The Baby<\/strong> runs until Nov. 1st at Toronto\u2019s Storefront Theatre<\/a>, with weeknight 8pm shows, and 2pm matinee shows on Sundays.<\/p>\n

Writer-director Dan Spurgeon and star Frank Blocker also spoke with KQEK.com on the creation of the play and its bawdy, busty matriarch, and the podcast is available on iTunes<\/a>, Libsyn<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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